SMG unplayable on modded Wii's. "Stealth" chips detected.

Reports are coming in that an update on the Super Mario Galaxy disc can detect mod chips and will refuse to play. Even if a work-around is found, you can bet this is just the beginning of Nintendo's efforts to render modded Wiis useless. Hope it was worth it. Have fun.

Most of the Wii modchips that I have briefly reviewed offer some form of flash upgradeability, therefore it will only be a matter of time before the developers of these chips (and those who see a market potential) manage to figure out a work-around to Galaxy's anti-piracy embedded software.

It seems however Nintendo is adopting the continual effort to constantly modify it's technology to at least reduce and complicate the piracy process, much like the DVD market has been utilizing for years now. With that said it's probably only a matter of time before we have AnyDVD-like software developers who make a market of breaking the embedded copy protection on such media. Who knows what the future holds is all I can say.

Clearly this is an obvious win for Nintendo, but this is only one battle. The war wages on as it always has for years now, until one day someone finally comes up with a protection scheme that too far advanced for the would-be pirates to be able to crack.

In the meantime I hope any current and potential would-be game pirate realizes the potential risks they are about to embrace, as you being participating in an up-hill battle that could cost more than it would to simply buy the titles in the first place. Regular hardware replacement could by far exceed the costs of what looks like a "free game library" by investing in such a chip. So please keep this in mind.